Nova Scotia RCMP Sgt. Mark Gallagher was found dead by fellow RCMP colleagues in the rubble of his residence in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince.
“This is devastating news for Mark’s family and for all of us,” said a visibly upset RCMP Commissioner William J.S. Elliott at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa Thursday evening.
“My profound sympathies go out to Mark’s wife Lisa and their children, Shane and Heather.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also issued a statement Thursday evening with his condolences to the Gallagher family.
“The discovery of Sgt. Gallagher confirms our worst fears that he was trapped in the rubble of his collapsed residence in Port-au-Prince.”
“Laureen and I extend our deepest sympathies to Mark’s wife Lisa and their two children Shane and Heather,” Harper said. “We continue to pray that searchers will find RCMP Supt. Doug Coates alive.”
Elliott said the RCMP is also holding out hope that Coates will be found. He is believed to be buried in the United Nations headquarters.
Canadian Forces and the UN are working closely on the search for Coates.
“(He) is believed to have been in the UN headquarters building when it collapsed,” Elliott said. “We were very much encouraged by the fact that someone else was recovered earlier today who was relatively unscathed and we hold out hope that we will get good news about Doug.”
The commissioner said he spoke with the Coates family and the RCMP is providing them support.
“They are obviously very concerned about Doug and they are certainly upset about the news about Mark,” he said. ““Doug has lots of friends and certainly they’re getting lots of support.”
Gallagher joined the RCMP in 1998, after 13 years with the Moncton Police.
He spent eight years in New Brunswick in a variety of policing roles including general policing and community policing/victim services. He was promoted to Corporal in 2004 while serving in Jacquet
River, N.B.
In 2007, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant as the Media Relations Officer for the province of N.S.
Last July, he was deployed to Haiti on a nine-month United Nations Peacekeeping mission. This was his first United Nations mission.
In 2002, Gallagher was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal and earned the Police Exemplary Service Medal.
justin.sadler@sunmedia.ca
